What's New

Review Author
Robert Head
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$2.79

I am have here today a set of resin exhaust stacks from Quickboost and anyone who has used their products know you are getting the absolute best bang for your buck in awesome engineering and accurate fit to go with a very affordable price which is extremely important in today’s economy and greatly affects the decision making for a lot of modelers when it comes to selecting aftermarket details.

The exhaust stack have 3 small sets mounted to 1 pour stub with the exhaust ports already bored out, and are designed to replace about 4 parts total from the Eduard 1/72nd scale Fw 190 and these can be used for either the A-5 or A-8 which are currently the only released kits in this scale from Eduard.

Kit Parts replaced are as followed

Review Author
Robert Head
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$13.00

Brengun is very well known for its wide range of photo-etched set and resin accessories for airplane models, and has once again expanded on the diorama scene with this tow bar.

I don’t know about you guys but the minute I hear tow bar, painful memories arise from countless PT sessions involving said large piece of metal, oops sorry wrong tow bar type. This is an aircraft tow bar and not to be confused with an army tow bar.

This nice piece from Brengun comes in a very sturdy cardboard box and is well packaged and protected from damage and the elements.

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.50

The AMK L-29 is a superb kit with great detail and options for display. One option is to pose open the nitrogen bay in the nose with a forward opening cover as was seen during pre-flight servicing. While the kit nose base is detailed, Aires offers additional detail cast into these resin replacement pieces for the bay and the cover. I have included pictures of the resin parts and a comparison with the kit pieces (darker gray). Neither the kit nor the Aires set provides the prop for the cover.

Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.50

There enough other issues with the Hobby Boss late Corsairs, including the landing gear doors and openings that you might not notice that the kit wheels are rather poor looking, enough so that you might want to replace the. There is a lot of competition in the market for resin replacement wheels, but Aires has produced their own offering, and this set includes what other set don’t, wheel masks. This set is target to the F4U-5, but it will work equally as well for any of the Hobby Boss late Corsairs, and for the kits by Hasegawa as well.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Ampersand Publishing
MSRP
$22.95

Ampersand’s website:

Noted military truck historian David Doyle has created an extensive and vivid portrait of these unique trucks. He begins with a detailed description of the truck platforms and designs, giving the reader a basic primer of the trucks prior to modification. This is followed by a lengthy illustrated description of the many weapons systems used, from small arms to the .50-caliber quad. Coverage of the trucks in action follows and is composed of many never before seen photos, many of which are full page in size and in color.

The first section describes military transport vehicles from the 1/4 ton M151, 2 1/2 ton 6 x 6, the 5 ton 6 x 6, and the M37. Each of the vehicle types is described in two or three pages with overall views and detailed photos of the engines. The photos are ‘proving ground’ type shots and in-action photos.

Book Author(s)
Yasuho Izawa, Tony Holmes, Illustrator: Jim Laurier
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$23.00

The newest in Osprey’s Aircraft of the Aces series is authored by Yasuho Izawa, an ophthalmic optician in Tokyo. His past literary works include co-authoring Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and their Aces 1931-45 (with Ikuhiko Hata), Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and their Aces 1932-45(with Ikuhiko Hata), Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II (with Ikuhiko Hata), and Bloody Shambles Volumes 1 and 2 (with Christopher Shores and Brian Cull). Tony Holmes has been the Osprey Aviation Editor since 1989 and is responsible for devising the Aircraft of the Aces, Combat Aircraft, Elite Units, and Duel series of books for Osprey. In his 26 year career, Tony Holmes has authored, or co-authored, more than thirty aviation books. Illustrator Jim Laurier, a native of New England, provides the color profiles. Jim has been drawing since he could hold a pencil and throughout his life he has worked in many mediums creating artwork on a variety of subjects.

Book Author(s)
Bruce Newsome
Review Author
Phillip Cavender
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.00

Osprey Publications have given us another excellent book for the military historian or for the model builder wanting a good reference book to include in his library. This publication was written by Bruce Oliver, PhD, a lecturer in International Relations at the University of California Berkeley who has several publications to his name.

The Valentine, Infantry Mk III was a light duty tank built and used by the British in WW II. The book is divided into 8 sections.

Introduction

The introduction section consisting of 2 paragraphs, gives a short synopsis of the Valentine platform and the countries it was exported to during WWII along with the percentage data of the platform usage.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a nice set of replacement landing gear for the Trumpeter 1/48 Sukhoi Su-11 Fishpot. The seven parts supplied include the nose gear, main gear, and gear retraction arms. A side by side evaluation of all the SAC parts shows the similarity with the kit parts. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new white metal items. The SAC landing gear may need to be slightly adjusted to be straight (a benefit of using metal is that you can bend it slightly). Smooth jaw needle nose pliers work wonderfully.

Review Author
David Wrinkle
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$18.59

Since April of 2013 when Kodakawa games released their free browser game Kantai Collection (aka Kancolle), featuring cute anime girls each of which represent ships from the Second World War IJN, there has been an increased interest in ship modeling in Japan. Tamiya, Hasegawa and Aoshima, have long worked in harmony releasing a sizable number of 1/700 warships represented by the waterline series of kits. These three companies as well as Fujimi are capitalizing on the popularity of the game and anime series by re-releasing many of these kits, as well as creating new kits, with extra decals of the girls as well as game specific box art.

Admittedly, because of the game as well as the anime series, I too have become a bit more interested in ship modeling. When I saw the Model Art issue covering up for grabs I knew that I wanted to give it a good look. Based on other Model Art magazine reviews and the few that I already own it I knew I would not be disappointed.